1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an IC socket, and particularly relates to an IC socket adopted for an IC module and a printed circuit board, which both have a plurality of pads respectively, and providing a plurality of contacts corresponding to the pads resiliently.
2. Background of the Invention
There are at least two ways to place an integrated circuit (IC) package on a main board. In one of the two ways, the IC is soldered fixedly on the main board and cannot be removed. In another way, the IC is replaceable. With respect to FIG. 1, a first conventional electrical socket 10a is adopted for mounting an IC module 20a having a plurality of pins 21a to a main board 30a, which has a plurality of conductive patterns 31a thereof. The first conventional electrical socket 10a includes a housing 11a, a plurality of passageways 12a formed on the housing and accommodating with the pins 21a of the IC module 20a, and a plurality of solder balls 13a positioned to the housing 11a and aligned with the passageways 12a respectively. The solder balls 13a connect the pins 21a and conductive patterns 31a respectively, when the solder balls 21a melt over a predetermined temperature. However, the pins 21a of the IC module 20a may damage when inserting into the passageways 12a due to incorrect alignment and oblique insertion. A short between any two adjacent pins 21a may happen because the solder balls 13a are over-quantity and melt to combine with each other. When removing the integrated circuit from the circuit board 30a, it is necessary to remove the solder completely from the integrated circuit, and this work is difficult, difficulty will increase by the number of pins 21a thereof. Pins 21a often deform and bend when removing IC module 20a from the main board 30a, and cannot be applied furthermore. Furthermore, the first conventional electrical socket 10a has to be thrown away while one of the main board 30a and the IC module 20a doesn't work, even though there are another functional modules that still work on the main board 30a. Both of the main board 30a and the IC module 20a damage can cause lots of costs and wastrels.
Referring to FIG. 2, a second conventional electrical socket 10b is adopted for mounting an IC module 20b having a plurality of pads 21b to a main board 30b, which has a plurality of conductive patterns 31b thereof. The second conventional electrical socket 10b includes a housing 11b having a plurality of passageways 12b inclined penetrating through thereof, a plurality of contacts 14b accommodating with the passageways 12b and each having an arced end exposing out of an upper surface of the housing, and a plurality of solder balls 13b positioned to the housing and aligned with the passageways 31b respectively. Each of the contacts 14b has a predetermined configuration to retain against in each of the passageways, and the solder balls 13b connect the contacts 14b and conductive patterns 31b respectively when the solder balls 13b melt over a predetermined temperature, the contacts 14b accordingly can electrically connect the pads 21b of the IC module 20b and the conductive patterns 31b of the main board 30b, the IC module 20b can be replaceable and disposed in the second electrical socket 10b thereby. Although the IC module 20b can be removed therefrom while one of the main board 30b and the IC module 20b doesn't work, the second conventional electrical socket 10b still has some problems as descried above. A short between any two adjacent contacts 14b may happen because the solder balls 13b are over-quantity and melt to combine with each other. Further, for orientating the solder balls 13b in the passageways 12b, there are still several steps in the manufacturing process, but the costs still cannot be cut down. In the case, another packages or modules can be kept while the IC module 20b is out of work and needs to be removed.
Hence, an improvement over the prior art is required to overcome the disadvantages thereof.